§ Mr. Patrick ThompsonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will be providing guidance on the establishment of management schemes for special areas of conservation under the EC habitats directive. [21192]
§ Mr. ClappisonThe Government are undertaking public consultation on a draft guide to implementing the EC habitats directive in the marine environment. Developed by a topic group of the Department of the Environment's coastal forum, the guide will be aimed at those authorities who would be responsible for setting up management schemes on sites covered by the EC habitats directive.
695WThe draft document is also a guide to the regulations which implement the habitats directive in Great Britain—the Conservation (Natural Habitats, etc.) Regulations 1994. The guide sets out the legal obligations and duties with regard to European marine sites.
Like the habitats directive, the guide underlines the principle of sustainable development. The aim is to ensure that human activities are undertaken in ways that do not threaten the nature conservation interest and, wherever possible support it.
The guidance gives advice on the ways in which organisations responsible for aspects of the marine environment can work together to achieve conservation through co-operation. The importance of widespread consultation is also a principal theme in the draft guide.
Comments on the draft guidance are invited by 26 April 1996.